The Aragonese Health Service is once again contracting private doctors for the Barbastro Hospital. At 30 euros per consultation, 5,500 appointments in Otolaryngology and Urology will be outsourced, in addition to 62 on-call shifts. The goal is to alleviate waiting lists that have already sparked protests and patient complaints.
Technical efficiency: the real cost of healthcare outsourcing 💰
At 30 euros per consultation, the total cost amounts to 165,000 euros, not including on-call shifts. This figure reveals a management model where the public health system pays private entities to cover its own lack of planning. The tender, similar to the one awarded in 2025 to the Ribera group, suggests a growing dependence on external solutions instead of strengthening in-house staff.
Healthcare 2.0: when paying twice is the solution 🤡
The formula is simple: citizens pay taxes to have public healthcare, and then the government pays again to private providers to treat those same citizens. A cancer patient summed it up better than any manager: a delay in oncology is not a wait, it's a death sentence. But hey, at least the bureaucracy works.